FOR FILMS which depict and bring new insights about the reality of Philippine society, three Ateneans reaped awards at the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.
Francis Pasion (AB Comm ‘99) won the Special Jury Prize, while Dan Villegas (AB IS ‘04) and Paul Sta. Ana (AB Philo ‘99) won the award for Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay, respectively.
The Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival is an annual film competition and festival organized by the Cinemalaya Foundation.
Now on its sixth year, Cinemalaya continues to be a venue for independent filmmakers to showcase their expertise in and passion for film.
This year’s awarding rites were held on July 18 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Realities through the reel
Pasion won for his full-length film Sampaguita. The film chronicles the life of the sampaguita flower through the stories of the children involved in its journeys.
Different from his first feature film Jay, Sampaguita was made to challenge the cinematic medium “with its capacity to tell the truth.”
“With Jay, I wanted the audience to be critical [while] with Sampaguita, I wanted the audience to be compassionate,” Pasion said.
Villegas and Sta. Ana, on the other hand, won for their film Mayohan. Set in the town of Infanta, Quezon, the film depicts how events during the town’s annual, month-long celebration of mayohan turns into a bastardization of a tradition.
The film deals with issues like sex and portrayals of women, especially women from the provinces and rural areas.
“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na hindi ka naniniwala na nangyayari ‘yung isang bagay, na hindi na siya nangyayari talaga, ‘di ba (It doesn’t mean that if you don’t believe that something is happening, it doesn’t happen at all, right)?” Villegas said.
Both films were based on real people and events, with the objective of presenting new ways of seeing the truth and looking at things.
Pasion’s film showed how the sampaguita is, “a mirror of our country.” It also showed how the statement “the children are the future of the country” can be true and untrue at the same time, and how a celebration dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary is reduced to becoming an opportunity for men to “hook-up.”
“At the end of the day, it’s what’s true. It’s the truth. It’s reality…and I think it’s our responsibility as filmmakers to make sure we show what’s true,” Sta. Ana said.
Something new
Making the films was a chance for the filmmakers to venture into something new. In Sampaguita, Pasion chose to be faithful to the story of the children.
He not only based the screenplay on actual interviews with the children, but he also made them the cast of his film. Because of this, he was challenged to adjust “according to how they would be acting out the scenes.”
He didn’t experience financial problems but instead “realized [how] it [was] very difficult to write someone else’s story”. Now, he continues to gain new experiences not only in making films but also in working for television and in teaching as a professor in the Ateneo.
Villegas, on the other hand, had his first stint of directing for his entry in this year’s Cinemalaya. “I asked him the question, ‘Do you want to direct?’ And he said yes,” Sta. Ana said while recalling how they came to join Cinemalaya this year.
While Sta. Ana continues to venture out from writing for television to writing for film, Villegas continues his journey from being a photographer, to being a cinematographer, and now, has proven himself also capable of being a director.
